Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994

summary

This paper presents a study that is aimed at finding a basis for systematic knowledge acquisition. More specifically, it attempts to introduce, knowledge acquisition by measurement: a method thatallows objective evaluation of empirical observations. Measurement has proven to be a significant tool to acquire, evaluate, and upgrade knowledge in some knowledge domains. In other domains,such as the domain of building change, measurement is barely subject of study. Building change knowledge acquisition by measurement seems to become a significant subject of study for several reasons: (i) increase our objective knowledge of previous building changes, (ii) allow systematic monitoring of present changes, and (iii) assist decisions planning for change in new buildings. In current studies, questions such as what were required changes, what were the building elements that fulfilled a change, how often did a building change, and what were the costs related to a change, often get no systematic or objective answers. Hence, to overcome that, I am concerned with finding a method that is to answer the following questions: 1) What is the domain of building change; 2) Is a method of knowledge acquisition by measurement adequate to represent buildingchanges; 3) Can empirical observations of building change be systematically represented and objectively evaluated using this method; and 4) How can this method be applied to assist theunderstanding of previous changes, the control of present changes, and assist planning for building change. The method introduced is based on three modules: (i) domain of building change; (ii) modelling this domain; and (iii) measurement. These three modules enable the formulation of the measurement of building change, namely the change indicator. Multiple change indicators, such as cost change indicator, or occurrence change indicator can measure empirical observations ofbuilding change. Sequential steps that lead to the development of this method start by section 1, where the domain of building change is specified. In section 2 this domain is modelled, and in section 3, knowledge acquisition by measurement method is introduced. A case study, shows how empirical building changes can be measured is explained in section 4. In section 5, three possible applications are introduced, and in section 6, I explain how a computerized prototype would enhance the efficiency of using such applications. Findings and conclusions resulting from this study are summarized in section 7.